2026-2028 Lucy Graduate Scholar
Biography
Saehwan Lee is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame. He holds a B.A. in Theology and Political Science from Yonsei University and an M.A. in Sociology from Sogang University, in Seoul, South Korea.
Saehwan’s research sits at the intersection of the sociology of religion and political sociology. He investigates how social conditions and power dynamics shape contemporary far-right movements and alliances, with attention to the role of religion within them—including Christian nationalism and the religiously embedded networks that mobilize, fracture, or constrain these formations. His work pursues this question across multiple contexts: cross-national analysis (WVS, V-Dem) of how religious embeddedness in civil society moderates the relationship between polarization, inequality, and democratic backsliding; comparative research on Christian nationalism and right-wing authoritarianism in the United States and South Korea; and a mixed-methods investigation of how perceived status threat and political framing fuel far-right support among South Korean men, drawing on a survey experiment, in-depth interviews, and LLM-based analysis of far-right media.
Contact:
slee74@nd.edu
Advisor:
Kraig Beyerlein, Associate Professor; Director, Center for the Study of Religion and Society